A few little themes this week, with some things to do with European jazz, especially the little Belgian/Luxembourg section in the middle. I hope that Babel will have a Wallonie compilation out later in the year, while I would heartily recommend the Gaume Jazz Festival for some of the music from the region.

I played Z-U because I loved Sons of Kemet on Monday at the Vortex.
Charlie Haden is playing at the Barbican. He was also on Later with Jools. As wilful as ever, it seemed.

I may have lost a bit of the Landgren/Svensson track because of not flicking over the right button. So here's another track.

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Seb Scotney on Londonjazz put up his A to Z of Jazzahead here. Here's mine.

A - AFIJMA. This is the French jazz festivals organisation and which the Vortex has just joined as a foreign associate member.B- Belgium. Unlike much of this divided country, jazz appears to be a unifying factor. They have a great range of promoters in both the Flemish and Wallonie regions, such as Jean-Pierre Bissot from Gaume, Wim Wabbes from Vooruit in Gent etc. etc. (Also, Oliver Belopeta of Skopje)C - Copenhagen Jazz Festival. Preannouncing its highlights, the main festival has over 1000 concerts in July. Go for it Christian.D - Dutch Jazz. A country which has the resources and musicianship. Mouthwatering venues (e.g. Bim Huis and SJU Utrecht) and festivals (such as North Sea)E - Europe Jazz Network. The Vortex is a member. Anke and Battista have been doing a great job in bringing us members together.F - Festivals. Lots of them.G- Gerry Godley. The mastermind behind the 12 Points festival in Ireland and overseeing, with Bo Gronningstaeter its expansion Europe-wide.H - Hungary. The BMC label seems to be the driving force behind a lot of Hungarian jazz, not just a label but also a festival.I - ILK. One of the great young labels around, driven by the ILK Collective in Denmark. The guiding light is Lotte Anker, a great saxophonist.J - Jazz Services. Joe Paice set up the British stand with limited resources, but managed to get a presence for us after all.K - Kelman, John. The ubiquitous and hard-working creative mastermind of allaboutjazz.comL - Luxembourg. Much of the development of the scene here is due to trumpeter Gast Waltzing, who is also label manager, promoter, professor at music conservatoire.M - Muetzelfeldt. Karsten, a radio journalist for WDR in Cologne and Deutschlandfunk, has an encyclopedic knowledge of European jazz and can be seen all around the place.N - Norwegian. One of the main languages of the event, along with English, German and French. This is where all is moving towards over the next few years.O - Orotone. A leading French agency. Laurent Carrier works hard to ensure that many of the young bands get around Europe. (Also Philippe Ochem of Jazzdor Strasbourg).P - Panisset. Jacques has overseen the development of Grenoble Jazz Festival and its move to having a name including Babel!Q - Quenum. Thierry is a great journalist, using his knowledge effectively for Jazz Magazine in France.R - Rui Neves. A great promoter who runs the wonderful Jazz em Agosto in Lisbon.S - Sendesaal. This is the former Radio Bremen studio, now a concert hall where I heard Colin Vallon and Mathias Eick. I first went there in 1992 to help Iain Ballamy record All Men Amen. Its revival is a fitting tribute to the indefatigable Peter Schulze, who also initiated Jazzahead.T - Tallinn. This year's European Capital of Culture with a great programme of music and also the home of the Free Tallinn Trio, coming back to London in OctoberU - Ulli Rattay is one of the best jazz publicists around in Germany. Understands the music but is also a realist.V - Vortex. Todd Wills managed to survive insomnia and various alcoholic potionswhich were being offered to ensnare him for gigs.W - Winckelmann. Matthias is one of the great jazz producers, with Enja now 40 years old. A mentor to me.X - Xylophone. Or rather Vibraphone. Pascal Schumacher (at the Vortex in June)Y - Youthful. What so many of the grey beards seem to have, in order to keep going.Z - Zomerjazzfietstour. A festival around Groningen where you cycle from gig to gig. Marcel Roelofs is one of the happiest men you could ever meet - and a demon ninepin bowler.

The theme was partly linked to having been at Jazzahead in Bremen. Meadow was recorded at the radio station studios there. I picked up album by Bushmen's Revenge and Stephane Kerecki there. Babel also got the heads up to do a Now's The Time sampler on Wallonie jazz - hence the choice of Aka Moon.

This week's question: who originally sang River Man?

Answer to last week: Sphere was Monk's middle name.

Apologies for losing a few seconds before the last track of the show. I forgot to push a switch.

Podcast coming soon.

There was no Billy Jenkins track this week. So how about this?

And a lovely track by Graham Collier, with Harry Beckett soloing. (I am also smitten by JT's comping and soloing.) There's a Harry Beckett tribute at the Vortex on 30 May.